Three years old

Today our baby boy turns three years old. He is growing up so fast. I say it a lot, but time does fly, especially with the second child. P. is so sweet, yet so stubborn, and all boy. We are so thankful that God made us his parents.

This morning we celebrated with the traditional train cake, though this year's was chocolate instead of vanilla, and opened a few presents. The rest of the day will be planned by P. I have a feeling we'll be visiting a few trains and may see a movie.

What do you do...

When your feet are cold while you are decorating the Christmas tree? Put on a couple of stockings, of course.

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday to K, only a week late. Last Saturday she celebrated her SIXTH birthday. It's so hard to believe she is six so soon. This year we took the kids to Disney as their birthday gifts and celebrated every day while we were there, so we are not hosting the string of parties that typically fill our December. Instead, K. got to pick what she wanted to do for the day. She chose to take her best friend, Kee, with her for a manicure, lunch and a movie. I was very much looking forward to such a fun girls day, and then the stomach virus hit me and I had to miss it all and most of the following four days (it was a very bad virus!). So, K. had a great "girls day" with her daddy, who graciously took his princess, Kee and P. for a manicure and on to lunch and a movie. K. had a great time, but I was very sad to have missed out on such a special day for her. I was able to crawl out of bed Monday to pick up cupcakes (there was no way I was baking and spreading the germs) and that night we all sang and she made her birthday wish for the year. Let's hope next Saturday brings a less eventful birthday for P.

A Good Citizen

K. received the good citizen award for her class at the PTO meeting last Thursday. We're so proud and so blessed to have such a caring child.

Our Magical Vacation

We just returned from our vacation to Walt Disney World. It was more than wonderful. R and I enjoyed it just as much as the kids. I took 700 photos and don't think I'll be able to post them all here, but I've included a few. I highly recommend Disney for a family vacation - everyone there treats each guest as if he or she is the only person there. The food is wonderful (definitely purchase the dining plan) and is way more than any person should eat on a daily basis. K enjoyed riding her first roller coaster - space mountain, and can't stop talking about how the Tower of Terror took her breath away. The lines for rides weren't bad (less than 10 minutes) when we first arrived, but were pretty crowded on Monday and Tuesday (Soarin'- in my opinion, the best ride there, had a 110 minute wait, luckily we had fast passes and only waited 10 minutes). We did have to wait to see several popular characters (an hour for Ariel and over an hour for Tinker Bell), but it was worth the wait. The kids LOVED seeing all of the characters. I'm certain we'll be talking about this trip for a long time.

Trick-or-Treat, a little late

I tried to post these pictures earlier, as in a month ago, but blogger wasn't cooperating, so I got busy and forgot. Here are pictures of our "ThatMan" and "Sharpay with a broken arm."

A song or three for you...

Here's P. He loves to sing...and to sing to his own tune...

VOTE

This weekend...

We went out to eat and bowling to celebrate my birthday.

And visited the pumpkin patch with our friends and family.

Soccer

K.'s soccer days are over for this season, but in the first three games she scored 17 goals - more than she scored in the first two seasons combined. She was doing very well this year and we're looking forward to the spring soccer season. These pictures are from her first game.

Finally fall

It's finally fall here; thank goodness. After several days in the 90s, the high today is suppose to be 61. We're loving it, but loving it while we're indoors...

I haven't posted in a while as our busy-as-usual schedules have kept me a little less than eager to sit down and write. Then it was the normal virus passing that has kept us on our toes. K. has brought home two viruses from kindergarten and thankfully P. has managed to only get one of them. Now we're on to bigger things, which will slow down our lives considerably...K. has a broken arm. Ballet, tap and soccer will have to be put on hold for the next six weeks or so.

This past Wednesday our sitter called me at work. She had just picked up K. from school and they were playing on the school's playground - just like they normally do when the weather is great and time allows. In the background I hear K. screaming. She fell off of the jungle gym and caught herself with her left arm. I immediately left work and met them there. Luckily - this was seriously a gift from God-the kids' pediatrician was there and called the hospital to let them know we would be there for Xrays. There was no waiting and we knew it was broken in less than 2o minutes. A radiologist and an orthopedic surgeon viewed the films and sent her to the local Children's Hospital (an hour north). We got there and did not have to wait (thanks again to the pediatrician for calling ahead for us). She had more Xrays and then was splinted and sent upstairs to her room. Thursday evening she had surgery to insert two pins to hold the bone in place and next Friday she'll have her pins Xrayed again and she'll get a cast (a pink one, she says). Two weeks after that the pins will be removed and she'll be put into another cast that she will wear for two to three more weeks. She has done very well, but is in pain. She's not quite use to the sling or the cast or having to maneuver with one arm. She will return to school Monday, but with activity restrictions - no gym or recess.

We are very lucky to have such awesome friends and family who have already done so much for K. and the rest of us. Thanks to all of you for gifts, balloons and food. This was K.'s eighth surgery, and I must say, it doesn't get any easier with the eighth than it was with the first, at least not for me. She did great and yelled, "I love you, Mom!" as they wheeled her off to surgery. I'm sure she knew I needed that.

Here are a few pictures of our sweet baby girl and her surprisingly super sweet brother (he has been so well behaved that we think he must be under a spell or something).




By the way, K. wants to go back to the hospital to stay. She says they have the most "comfy beds ever."

Craziness at the pump

Last night, after we left Open House at K's school (which went very well, as expected), we stopped at the gas station and there were cars lined up four cars deep at each pump. Apparently everyone got the message that gas prices were expected to soar at midnight. So we got in line. We were the third vehicle in line going one direction and there was another car going the opposite direction. The car filling up finishes and the two cars in front of us waiting pull forward at the same time. They meet in the middle and neither can make the pump reach their respective tanks. So the car with the teenagers (the one going the wrong direction in the first place) backs up and makes room for the oversized truck, but the girl from the car gets out and waits by the pump, as to stake her place in line. We are still waiting. Approximately 10 minutes have passed since we first arrived and the truck is finished filling up and I need to pull forward to make room for another oversized farm truck to get out without hitting my car. As I begin to pull forward the teenage girl jumps in front of my BIG SUV and throws her arms out. Can you believe this? I'm not even close to pulling up to the pump, nor did I have any intentions of doing so...I'm fair when it comes to waiting in lines and believe everyone should receive service on a first-come-first-serve basis. I proceed to roll my window down to tell the girl to move because I'm about to get hit and she lets me know that she has been waiting for over an hour. I would have liked to have said more, but I bit my tongue and got out of the way of the huge truck. I thought gas station drama like this only happened in big cities, but I was wrong...it also happens right here in rural, small town Tennessee. I think next time I'll just pay the extra $$ per gallon and go the next day. Ridiculous.

The pictures are from the gas station where we waited. Most of the cars are going the opposite direction and are lined up on the highway shoulder. A couple of stations in town ran out of gas and one raised prices to $4.79/gallon ($1.10 more per gallon than all other stations). I wish I had taken a picture of the girl with her arms out (and her boyfriend who was about to blow the place up as he smoked his cigarette near the pump), but you can see her sitting by the pump waiting her turn.

We're counting down...

Only 2 hours and 40 minutes until kick-off...

By the way, K. wanted to know if we were going to the game tonight and has been very disappointed ever since I told her no. She has asked everyone we have seen today, "how far is California?"

Go Vols!

The ankle bracelet

This summer while attending Bible School at our church, K. made an ankle bracelet. She wore it for a couple of days, but it broke after a full day of swimming. To say the least, she was upset. I tried to re-string it to no avail. She talked about wanting another one, but I wasn't sure about what beads went where and we lost a few to the pool.

So, a couple of weeks ago her Sunday School teacher (who was also the VBS art teacher) had the supplies and made her another one. She was so excited; she'd have her bracelet for the first day of school. K. has worn it every day and has refused to take it off, even when dressing for ballet and having to wear tights, which can be difficult with a chunky bracelet on your ankle.

The other night I suggested we take it off and she looked at me very seriously and said, "please no." I asked her why that bracelet meant so much to her and she proceeded to tell me that when she wears it she is reminded that Jesus loves her and that He helped others and He wants her to help others, too. I sat there with tears in my eyes and my mouth open. I had no idea that she had made any sort of connection with her bracelet, I thought it was a fashion statement. Do I even have to tell you how this made me feel? K. is so special and to know that she wants to live for God and show others his love at age 5...well, what more could a mother ask for?

By the way, she'll be wearing that bracelet for as long as she likes. I'll even add length to it as needed. :-)

My favorite boy...

is a superhero...

with great fashion sense.

Breakfast of champions...

Spicy Italian thin crust pizza from Papa John's. Just proof that I really am a good mother. And here's P's reaction: "Delicious, Mom! I love it." K is at a friend's house. She would never approve.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

I ran across this site today and thought it would be fun to try it out...it turned out pretty funny. It told me that I also favored two men - Jon Bon Jovi and the cute gardener guy from Desperate Housewives.

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Roots - Descendents

It's back...

the side ponytail. Isn't it just as lovely as it was in the '80s?

Have you seen these?

Photo from www.allthingscupcake.com

Check them out here at All Things Cupcake. (Check this site for other cool cupcake ideas, too.) I've got to make them, but I may have to try something other than peanut butter buttercream. Even though it makes my mouth water, peanut butter makes my head and stomach hurt even worse (darn allergies!). And we'll not even go into what it does to P.- poor guy will never be able to enjoy the goodness of peanut butter.

The third day of school...

Apparently I could only hold in the sobbing for so long, and today after I dropped K. off at the door of her school (they requested we not walk them to the classroom after Wednesday) I started. I cried all the way home. It's so hard to let go. And for those of you who are not there yet...just wait. K. has attended day care or preschool since she was an infant, but this is different. In kindergarten there's a little less protection, and independence is a requirement. And while K. is full of independence, I still have a hard time thinking of her having to take care of her own lunch needs (opening the thermos, making her own decisions of what to eat first - by the way, the fruit snacks are the only items entirely eaten each day - etc.)and finding her own way down that long hallway to her classroom, alone.

When I pick her up, well, that's another story. It's almost as if I can't get enough of what she has to tell me. I get so excited just to see her. Man, she really is the best thing (besides her brother, whom I love just as much)in the whole world.

In case you're wondering why it's only her third day of school, her class is split by last name and they only attend every other day until next Friday when she will begin full days of class every day. Yeah, I'll probably cry that day, too.

The first day of school

Today our baby started kindergarten. She was so excited that I think she told me she was excited at least 10 times this morning. She was great when I dropped her off and I did better than I expected. (There were tears in my eyes, but there was no loud sobbing.) Here are a few pictures from this morning. She asked me not to take any, but I couldn't help it. How could I not take pictures of her first day of school? By the way, P. is walking around saying, "When are we going to get sissy? I want sissy to come home." He's going to miss her while she's in school.